Apple
CEO Tim Cook, clearly on the opposing side of the Snooper's Charter to be
introduced to the United Kingdom, raised his concerns. He said the public
telecommunications service had expanded its definition from Internet service
providers to technology companies and telecommunications providers, namely
those with email and messaging services including Apple, Google and even
Facebook.
Impossible to Reveal Encryptions
Cook's
concern comes from the legitimisation of bulk interception from Internet
providers, wherein they force ISPs to provide customer information and other
sensitive data for up to 12 months until they are destroyed.
However,
Apple's Message's app does not rely on manual encryption, but rather end-to-end
encryption where only the sender and the receiver can read the messages. This
makes it impossible for Apple to reveal the encrypted messages as demanded by
the Snooper's Charter.
A Backdoor For Everyone
In
turn, Cook said that anybody who discovers a backdoor to the encryptions, let
alone allowing Apple itself to have a backdoor, will allow anyone to have a
backdoor to every UK person's privacy.
Despite
the safety it helps to bring down terrorists and find information about them, a
backdoor would destroy the privacy and reveal sensitive information at a whim.
Meanwhile,
Apple has not indicated what steps it would take should the bill become law.
